Merchandise Tier 5 Training

I have officially earned my ears! Today was my last day of training, also known as Merchandise Tier 5. Today I worked up in the Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain gift shop, the biggest merchandise location in Asia. Half of the day was spent learning about Photopass, this is where people go to purchase their ride photos. That came with a lot of details and things to remember. The second half of the day was spent just putting everything I had learned up until this point to the test. Well, in reality, it was very slow because it was yet another dreary day in Florida.

Training went by very, very fast and I can't say I feel 110% ready to take on everything that I've learned! Tomorrow is my first day on my own and I am definitely very excited though, especially because I don't start work until 2:30pm!

Merchandise Tier 4 Training

Today I had my second to last day of training which means....floor stocking. This means, a new costume. Get excited people.

Weather was AWFUL today, which meant Disney's Animal Kingdom was dead. So there wasn't a lot of practice to be done. It was another one of those training days that included a lot of pointless walking around and few tips and tricks sprinkled in here in there. About half way through the day I had to take my 67 questions assessment, which I happily passed. 

Tomorrow is my last day of training, Tier 5, and I will be up in the Expedition Everest gift shop, the biggest shop in Asia. There I will be learning Photopass for guests who want to purchase their photo from the ride. I'm definitely very eager to take off my "Earning My Ears" ribbon and finally start actually putting what I've learned to use. Thus far, training has been fine, nothing exciting, but nothing awful. My trainer Steven has been really cool and I find him to be a pretty entertaining man, not purposefully. 

After Tier 5 tomorrow I will have one day on my own before I get another two days off...not complaining. Lots of work makes it hard to catch up on things outside of work such as laundry, errands, etc. and I'm looking forward to getting all of those done.

Second Day Off

My second day off of work brought unfavorable weather, but in reality that meant for favorable park conditions - no waits, low crowds - and while it was a bit chilly, Emily and I had a great day at both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios! On our first day off, Emily and I got some "I'm Celebrating" buttons under which we wrote "My day off!" We've been wearing them on our days off ever since (right now that's only two days, but I plan on wearing them on all my days off). Everyone gets a real kick out of them!!

Em and I also heard that Johnny Depp was staying at a Walt Disney World Resort and he is sometimes known to perform in the pirate show outside Pirates of the Carribbean. Emily and I planned on going on a Johnny hunt but weren't on a super mission by any means. We happened to walk out of lunch in Frontierland just as the pirate show was beginning and suddenly Jack Sparrow walked out....................yeah, it wasn't him. FAIL.

It's safe to say things are really starting to pick up though. Shifts are getting longer and more frequent and everyone is on track to finishing training pretty soon. Guess I REALLY need to enjoy it while it lasts!

First Day Off

The day I have finally been waiting for has arrive...my day off! Don't get me wrong, I've been loving work, but everybody needs a day off, and on my day off, I went to Disney's Animal Kingdom with the gang! I know, how lame for me to go to my work on my day off, but I don't get to enjoy the park while I'm actually on the job! We were there pretty much all day and, as expected had a lot of fun!

The guy from a Disney Channel show filming a Danimals commercial in the park!

Merchandise Tier 3

Tier 3 has thus far been my favorite day of training. Today was actually my first day out in the park, putting my practice to the test! Everything went pretty well and I feel like it was pretty easy, especially having worked in retail before. I have definitely found my niche though - merchantaining!
"Merchantaining" is playing with the merchandise for the guests. For example (and this has been my favorite part thus far): one of our merchandise carts in Asia sells all plushes, including a small brown bear puppet that seriously looks like a real bear! Guests get a kick out of it when I put it to use and it's fun to see their reactions! I get to scare the crap out of our older guests, which is, of course, hilarious and then I get to brighten up the kiddos' faces! It seriously is just the best!

The day went by pretty quickly because we got to take a lot of breaks and a long lunch, which was nice! In my next training, Tier 4, I will be learning about floor stocking, which means another FABULOUS outfit, so just look forward to that!

Apartment Tour

As promised, I have finally posted a vlog to give you a tour of my three-bedroom apartment in Patterson Court!

Merchandise Training Schedule and First Work Schedule

So here is my training schedule for merchandise in Disney's Animal Kingdom, from what I've been hearing, this is a pretty typical training schedule for those in merchandise.

Thursday, Jan. 23rd, 8:00-12:00- Traditions
Friday, Jan. 24th, 8:00-14:00- DAKlimation
Saturday, Jan. 25th, 9:00-17:30- Merchandise Tier 1
Sunday, Jan. 26th, 8:00-15:00- Merchantainment
Monday, Jan. 27th, 7:00-15:30- Merchandise Tier 3
Tuesday, Jan. 28th- OFF
Wednesday, Jan. 29th- OFF
Thursday, Jan. 30th, 9:30-18:00- Merchandise Tier 4
Friday, Jan. 31st, 9:30-18:00- Merchandise Tier 5

After my Merchandise Tier 5, I will be officially done with my training and I will have "earned my ears." Also, I would like to point out that Disney runs on military time, so if you're thinking of doing the DCP in the future, I would recommend practicing reading military time!

Now that I'm on The Hub (Disney's Cast Member website), I can now see my schedule after training. It looks a little something like this:

Saturday, Feb. 1st, 14:30-20:30- DAK Asia Carts
Sunday, Feb. 2nd- OFF
Monday, Feb. 3rd- OFF
Tuesday, Feb. 4th, 9:00-18:00- DAK Asia Carts
Wednesday, Feb. 5th, 9:15-17:15- Asia Everest Merch
Thursday, Feb. 6th, 12:00-18:00- DAK Everest Floorstock
Friday, Feb. 7th, 14:30-20:30- DAK Asia Carts
Saturday, Feb. 8th, 15:00-21:00- DAK Everest Merch

Merchandise Tier 2: Merchantainment

Today I had my Merchantainment class at Disney University where I learned how to use the registers. They have a room full of registers and we learned how to use a bunch of functions on them. The actual practicing on the registers was the part I liked but there was a lot of us sitting and them talking to us for extended periods of time. Those were the parts I was fighting HARD to keep my eyes open. 

All of the first part was from 8:00am-12:15pm and then we broke for lunch. After lunch, guess what it was time for? MORE E-LEARNING! WOO! -.- I have decided that I really don't prefer the E-Learning modules. I understand they're necessary, but that doesn't make them any less boring! 

I got home around 2:30 and was able to clean the apartment and do laundry. I think Sydney and I are going to go to the parks right now depending on how the weather plays out! I have work at 7:00am, ouch, but then I have two days off and so does Emily and we can't WAIT to hit the parks together some more!!!

Merchandise Tier 1 Training

So today I had my first day of in-costume training at Disney's Animal Kingdom, this is also known as Merchandise Tier 1. The morning started out with about two hours of E-Learning in the computer lab at the DAK Cast Services building. Although the two hours flew by, it didn't make it any less boring. There were about five of us in there, all were ladies I had DAKlimation with.

After the E-Learning, we got our Pin Trading lanyards! I'm super excited for that aspect of merchandise and actually did a lot of Pin Trading with guests when I was out in the park! After some more talk about Disney's Four Keys (ALWAYS) it was already lunch, which we all had in Pride Rock cafeteria.

After lunch, we split up with individual trainers based on what land we were in and we got well acquainted with the area and the merchandise locations within our area, not to mention all the backstage areas. I was a little disappointed to find out that the majority of merchandise locations in Asia are all outdoor carts, which means working outside, which is not exactly wonderful in the Florida heat/humidity/rain. There's actually only one indoor location. While today was a pretty general overview, it sounded like we rotate throughout all these locations during our shift.

Overall I feel like it was a very long day for not a lot of stuff, but all in all it was a fine day.

Alright, so the moment you've all been waiting for...the reveal of my costume. Let me prelude this by telling you that sadly, this costume is probably one of the best ones there. Get excited people.

Even though I was dead tired after training, we HAD to hit up Hollywood Studios with just an hour to spare (duh)!!! We went with our favorite DCP boys, our neighbors across the hall, and were able to ride Hollywood Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster. I also saw Fantasmic for my very first time and I cried really hard like such a weenie. Just one of those side effects of Disney magic I guess!

DAKlimation

Today I had my DAKlimation training to become acclimated to Disney's Animal Kingdom (ahhhh I see what you did there). DAKlimation began at 8:00am so I planned to take the 7:05 bus from Chatham to get there at 7:35. However, when I got to Chatham at 6:50am, the next bus wasn't coming until 7:37...a bit of a problem for me. So I ended up driving after all and with the help of my bus app map and a couple of u-turns later, I eventually made it to the cast parking lot and found my way to the Cast Service Building.

Like Traditions, I had to dress in business casual today, and after learning my lesson yesterday with wearing a skirt in the unusually cold weather here, I switched to pants and a blazer. Let me tell you...THIS DID NOT HELP! It was so cold first thing in the morning and didn't warm up until...uhhhh right now at 3:30pm, and it's STILL pretty chilly! Of course, the first thing we did in the wonderful chill was take a park tour to become well acquainted with Disney's Animal Kingdom's five lands. Each land has a different story, a different conservation message, and a different greeting, and it was really neat learning all of those, it definitely made more excited to work at DAK! The first thing we did on our tour was ride Kilimanjaro Safaris before the park opened, which, of course, was AWESOME. And as a prize for getting up so early and being up so early, we actually got to see more of the animals because they're more active in the early morning!

After the park tour, our leaders talked to us about "Disney's Four Keys" at DAK (view last post, if you're really interested in that) for about forty five more minutes, gave us the rest of our training schedules, and then we were broken for lunch at Pride Rock Cafeteria, the cast member cafeteria for DAK cast members. Apparently all cast member cafeterias have a Subway in them, and homegirl got a six inch meal for like four bucks....uh, what?!

My training schedule is as follows:

Saturday - Merchandise Tier 1
Sunday - Merchantainment
Monday - Merchandise Tier 3
Tuesday - OFF DAY
Wednesday - OFF DAY
Thursday - Merchandise Tier 4
Friday - Merchandise Tier 5

After lunch, came the best (and I say this in a half sarcastic way) part of our day...costuming. I drove to DAK Wardrobe and there had to try on a bunch of different sizes before finally getting the right ones in both tops and pants. When I found the right sizes, I eventually went home with five tops, five bottoms, one winter jacket, one rain jacket, a pair of gloves, and a fanny pack to keep my rain stuff in.

I made a lot of promises that I would show my costume today, but I didn't take any pictures while I was there trying them on because it was just so hectic. However, I do have to wear my costume tomorrow to training, so you will definitely be seeing it tomorrow when I take my picture in the morning (which is now weirdly becoming some sort of ritual?).

DAKlimation was just fine, there wasn't a ton of information just thrown at you, which was nice, it really is just what they say, just to get acclimated with the park. I got to meet some nice people in my group and even met a really sweet girl who is also doing Asia Merchandise and also lives in Patterson, so it looks like I found my carpool buddy!! I have absolutely no idea what to expect tomorrow, but I can't wait to fill you in on what happens. I'm still trying to decide if I should go to the parks tonight, I am definitely pretty tired, and I still need to go get work shoes, which I will be going to Walmart for...woo!

Also, I think you can be expecting a vlog on Tuesday!

Traditions

Today I had Traditions, this is Disney's company-wide orientation that every Cast Member has to take. Some people like to call it "mouse washing" you. I had the early Traditions orientation, which meant me and my roommate, Emily, hopping the 6:45am bus from Chatham to Disney University...woo. We got there around 7:15am and had to wait on the bus a little until they were ready to let us in. Once inside, we were split into groups based on the Traditions number on our stickers given to us at check-in. There were probably about twenty-five people in my group and we were lead into one of the Disney University classrooms. As we checked in to the classroom, we received our company ID's! Very exciting!

The beginning of the Traditions orientation was SUPER boring, only because 1) it was one of those lame computer modules about safety procedures and company conduct, and 2) I was SO tired. I was literally fighting with my eyelids to stay open! But then they showed this magically sappy, inspirational video about the Disney Company and working for Disney and then I was all ears (no pun intended). 

After some more information we took about a five minute break and then came back to big red boxes on our tables. We opened them up all together to find a lovely surprise! 

We talked a lot about the Disney Company's "Four Keys," Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. And I even won a little prize for participating. Again, this was another moment where I appreciated the effort that went into making something potentially boring, fun and engaging.

After some more inspirational videos and words from our CEO, Chief of Parks and Resorts, etc. (via video), we then went to one of the best parts of Traditions...a short tour of the Magic Kingdom, including the Utilidors! For those of you that have always been wondering, I can tell you that there are indeed tunnels under the Magic Kingdom. However, they're not exactly underneath because you can't really build a basement in the swampy, marshy Florida landscape. So the Utilidors (Utility Corridors) are actually on the first floor, and the Magic Kingdom is on the second! They actually weren't all that thrilling. "Collide" was playing on the speakers, the smell of pizza was wafting through the air, and contrary to rumor, it did not at all smell like garbage. Before I knew it, we were seamlessly walking "Offstage" (behind the scenes) into the park ("Onstage"). I still think that Disney World doesn't hold a candle to Disneyland, but I know people from the east coast believe differently, I guess it's just what you were raised with! 

When we got back, we talked only a little bit more until we were given another wonderful surprise. The boss man himself paid us a visit and brought along a gift, our name tags. I tell you what, I'm twenty years old and seeing Mickey Mouse is still so magical to me!

So that was it for Traditions. We were done at about 12:30pm. Below I have added a couple more photos I took at Traditions, including what I wore, because I know that was difficult for people to figure out.

Right after Traditions I went home to change and eat (I was starving, as always), and then can you imagine where I went next? That's right, this girl took her free pass right on into the Magic Kingdom. I went with my roommate, Emily, our two neighbors that live across the hall from us, Colton and Patrick, and Katherine, whom Patrick met at Traditions. The five of us had a blast! I have never laughed so hard at a Disney park before! The friends I have met already are so amazing, I can tell we can all feel the same way about being here, simply...blessed. Tomorrow we're planning on hitting Hollywood Studios, that is, after I finish my first day of training (ahhh!). 

If you know me...

This was genuinely a candid photo...Space Mountain in Disney World is absolutely terrifying compared to Disneyland! 

Emily was so adorable during the fireworks

Tomorrow I have DAKlimation at 8:00am, which means I will be hopping on the 7:05am bus from Chatham! I'm super excited for tomorrow, and only nervous for getting lost or missing the bus or taking the wrong one or something! Everything is happening so fast and it's definitely not looking like it's going to slow down any time soon!

P.S. I've been asked if I'm going to make any more vlogs soon and the answer is: I promise I will soon! I have to admit, I definitely prefer blogging over vlogging only because it's a little awkward to talk to a camera. Plus, I only like to vlog when no one is home, so as soon as the opportunity presents itself I promise I will be giving an apartment tour plus talking about everything I've experienced up to this point!